Darkness (2)
Hanminha didn’t say anything throughout the ride.
I wasn’t in the mood to say anything either, so we didn’t exchange a word.
Leaving the small-looking headquarters of the Bureau next to us, we took the ring road to the outskirts of the capital.
After leaving the building forest, a secluded landscape unfolded.
In the sky full of clear white cumulonimbus clouds unique to summer, a certain hero was patrolling, dragging an aura for a long time.
We arrived at an ossuary located in a quiet place.
In the square gray building built in the middle of a wide, flat site, there was no sign or signboard to be found.
That’s where Secreto’s heroes who died in the line go, and the senior couple are also here.
“This is it.”
In the car, Han Min-ha asked while looking at the ossuary.
“That’s right. Here it is.”
“Then go in.”
After taking out the bouquets we prepared in advance, we entered the ossuary side by side.
Unlike the hot outside, the inside of the charnel house was cool enough to feel somewhat cool.
The immaculately clean lobby had gray stone walls similar to the outer wall, and only one employee with a calm appearance greeted us.
“Please tell me your callsign.”
“Graysteel.”
An employee who searched for something on the computer looked at the monitor alternately with me, then asked.
“Who is the target?”
“Amizuma and Velvet Butcher.”
“Go to 13-D on the 2nd floor.”
Following the staff’s guidance, we slowly climbed the stairs to Area 13-D.
The 2nd floor of the ossuary with a structure like a quiet library.
There I found a sign that read 13-D.
“Student Minha. Over there.”
“Yes.”
As we entered Area 13-D, the ossuaries were lined up in an orderly manner from floor to ceiling on the lattice glass shelves installed on both walls.
We stood in the middle and looked at the senior couple’s callsigns.
“Ah…”
Han Min-ha pointed somewhere.
There was an ashes of a senior couple there.
The ossuary of the senior couple was the same white pottery as the other urns.
From noble mtl dot com
There were no signs or decorations there, just a very small nameplate with a call sign written on it.
There I checked the senior couple’s callsigns, ‘Amizuma’ and ‘Velvet Butcher’.
“Here you are…”
“Mom and Dad… are here.”
Han Min-ha whispered while caressing the glass wall.
“Mom, Dad… I’m here…”
Thick tears flowed down Han Min-ha’s cheeks.
I couldn’t bear to look at it, so I turned my gaze the other way.
“I’ve been waiting for years… But I couldn’t come because I was here…”
“I’m sorry. I brought it in only now. I should have told you about it earlier. I couldn’t bear it.”
“It’s okay, professor… Thank you for bringing me even now…. Mom and Dad will thank you too…”
Han Min-ha quietly sobbed without speaking any more.
Hearing that sound made his heart ache and at the same time his mental barrier began to vibrate violently.
As I endured the shaking, I stood there for a long time, ignoring Han Min-ha.
After a very long time passed, Han Min-ha carefully patted my back.
“Professor. You should also say hello to mom and dad…. You were friends. I haven’t seen her in a long time… so say hello.”
I closed my eyes for a moment, suppressed my emotions, and slowly turned around.
Han Min-ha, covered in tears, stepped aside a little.
Standing in front of the senior couple’s ashes, I opened my mouth with difficulty.
“I… Hmm…”
I was able to speak only after clearing my throat several times.
“I’m sorry I came so late. Actually, I’ve known everything since last year… I couldn’t come. I didn’t have the courage. I died because of me…”
He was silent for a moment, then spoke again.
“I had no face seeing people who died because of me. I hated myself for cowardly running away, so that’s why I did it. I’m sorry.”
But, of course, there was no answer to that.
There was no senior with a big smile, saying, ‘Why don’t you show sincerity instead of just saying sorry?’
Seo Ji-ah smiles at her immature husband next to her.
It’s been a long time since the sadness has already gone and only good memories of the deceased remain, but to me the death of a senior couple just happened yesterday.
Because I am feeling the sadness I have never felt before since I regained my memories.
So it was insanely sad.
This is why I was afraid to come here.
“You know the oath I made at the end. That I would make Min-ha student S-class.”
He smiled and opened his mouth.
“Don’t worry about that. Student Minha resembles the two of them and will probably become an outstanding hero. I will take responsibility and make him that way.”
I looked straight at the senior couple’s urn, enduring the trembling waves of my mental barrier.
Like back then, when we swore an oath while climbing a snowy mountain.
But for some reason, my vision kept getting blurry and I couldn’t see straight ahead.
Could it be that the mental barrier is shaken so much that he loses consciousness?
“But before that, I have work to do.”
Gritting my teeth, I continued what I was going to say to the senior couple to the end.
“We’ve found the one who made us this way. We’ll find him sooner and crush him flat until his guts burst and his bones break. The most painful death…”
“Professor! What do you mean?!”
Han Min-ha raised his voice and intervened in front of me.
Grabbing my cheeks with both hands, Han Min-ha forcibly turned my face from his urn to himself.
“That word… What the hell are you talking about…?”
“Student Minha. I found the villain who killed my parents. Sooner or later, Secretto will launch a revenge operation. I decided to take part in it.”
“No!”
Han Min-ha screamed.
“Don’t do that, professor! What the hell are you doing!”
“It’s because it’s so hard to do otherwise. Every time I think of Min-ha’s parents, and every time I see Min-ha shed tears because of that, my mental barrier shakes as if it’s about to collapse.”
I said while caressing the back of Han Min-ha’s hand that was covering my cheek.
“Guilt, depression, stress, self-loathing. All of that takes its toll and hits the mental barrier. I can’t live like this forever.”
“Professor…”
Han Min-ha wiped my eyes and cheeks with his soft hands and opened his mouth as if to soothe me.
I see. It wasn’t that I lost consciousness, but that I couldn’t see because my eyes were filled with tears.
“Professor. Don’t be sorry. Don’t feel guilty. You did nothing wrong.”
Han Min-ha said in a cracking voice as he wiped away his tears.
“It’s not because of the professor that my mom and dad died. If you keep doing this, it hurts me so much…”
“Me too…”
“Even mom and dad wouldn’t want the professor to suffer like this.”
However, Han Min-ha continued to speak without giving me a chance to speak.
“Please shake it all off now. How long do you intend to be entangled in the past. And, as you just said, take responsibility for me and guide me. Please do so. That’s what both my mom and dad want. And…”
Han Min-ha’s hands began to tremble slightly.
“And, aren’t the professor and mom and dad all three strong villains? Don’t do anything dangerous like that. Please don’t do it, Professor. Just…”
Han Min-ha said as if pleading.
“Just forget everything and live like this. That’s possible. Leave the old Gray Steel behind and live as Professor Gyo Hyun at the academy. Professor has me. Heewon and Doyoon also exist. Look at us and live. Then It works. If…”
Now Han Min-ha’s hands were shaking so badly that he was uneasy.
“If the professor goes there and something goes wrong… Then… I’ll be alone again…”
Her mental barrier vibrated like crazy, and it was almost as if she could hear the vibration.
Contrary to her intentions, Han Min-ha’s pleas and requests made it even more difficult for me.
I answered while clenching Han Min-ha’s trembling hand.
“Okay, okay.”
She forcibly lifted the corners of her hardened mouth and replied with a smile.
“I understood everything Minha said…”
“Promise me, professor. I won’t go. Promise me you’ll stay by my side.”
Han Min-ha stretched out her little finger and lifted it in front of me.
It was an impossible promise.
But I put my little finger on her little finger.
Because it was clear that if I didn’t do this, the mental barrier would continue to suffer.
“I promise.”
It was only then that the trembling in Han Min-ha’s hands subsided.
“Mom and Dad. The professor promised. So, shouldn’t I be too sad if the professor doesn’t go for revenge? It’s more important for me to be a good person than that, isn’t it?”
Han Min-ha, who had been staring at her urn for a long time, looked back at me and smiled.
“Mom and Dad agree.”
“hahahaha, yes.”
“Professor, watch him cry.”
Han Min-ha rummaged through her pockets and took out her handkerchief and handed it to me.
As I wiped my eyes with it, I suddenly realized that I hadn’t returned her then-her handkerchief to Han Min-ha.
It was the handkerchief Han Min-ha gave me during the entrance ceremony when I had a coughing fit.
You said you would give it every time, but you’ve already put it off for a year and a half.
“Then Professor, shall we go back now?”
“Doesn’t it need more?”
“Today isn’t the last day. You can come often. And the professor’s complexion doesn’t look good.”
“I see. Then… let’s go back.”
I looked back at the old couple’s ashes once again.
I was thinking of saying goodbye, but decided to quit.
As Han Min-ha said, I will come back later anyway.
In the car on the way back to Yoo Hee-won’s house, Han Min-ha stretched her hand out the window holding the bouquet she hadn’t delivered.
It was both beautiful and sad to see the purple aura that rose from her hands and the white chrysanthemum petals that mingled and fluttered.
* * * * *
When I arrived at Yu Hee-won’s house, the advisory committee chairman was waiting for me at the exit of the underground garage instead of Yu Hee-won.
“Oh, hello…”
Han Min-ha hesitated at the sudden appearance of the advisory chairman.
“Heewon is inside.”
“Yes…yes….”
Han Min-ha, realizing the meaning of the word to move, hurriedly passed the advisory chairman and crossed the garden.
When only the two of them were left, the advisory chairman immediately threw the main argument.
“The preparations are complete.”